Equal Women, Equal Pay cheap essay help International Affairs/Relations assignment help

As long as an American woman is putting in the same amount of hours with the same qualifications and experience in the same occupation as an American male, and yet taking home a wage that is any lower, she is not being treated fairly as an equal. Contrary to many arguments, it’s undeniable that a wage gap exists, and while there are various ideas as to the most probable cause, there is no reason why this gap should continue to go uncorrected or unchanged. Our government should take concrete steps to close the gender wage gap because it violates women’s rights and equality.

A woman’s right to equality should guarantee her that she will be treated fairly in the workplace and that she is respected as having equal value and worth as her male peers. The wage gap has been around since women began working outside the home, and even as more careers became open to women, many times they faced discrimination due to social stereotypes. Today, our country’s standard of freedom values would be followed more fairly if a gender wage gap did not exist between women and men.

Some opposing arguments deny the gap exists, taking on the arrogant view that the whole issue is an over-dramatic obsession of feminist groups. While others make claims that the wages are a reflection of women’s less competitive majors, gaps in employment history, taking time off work, entering lower-paying fields… all among a dozen other reasons why women aren’t at the higher employment standards as men. In response the assumption that women that are mothers cannot have careers, they are just as fit for employment as fathers are.

In fact, mothering often fosters skills in women, an example of this being a mother’s developed ability to multi-task and be focused. Deborah Fallows explains the following about women that, “…after some months or years of settling into motherhood, their sense of what work is worth, and what they’re looking for in work, has greatly changed. They are less tolerant, more selective, more demanding in what they do. ” (Why Mothers Should Stay at Home) It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number that accurately measures the wage gap between men and women because of various ways to look at the difference in statistics.

Even our president was corrected for a slight mistake during his remarks on equal pay for equal work stating that the women only made 70 cents for every dollar a man earns, which the White House later corrected as 77 cents (Remarks on Equal Pay for Equal Work). “Women earn only 77 cents for every dollar men earn, with women of color at an even greater disadvantage with 64 cents on the dollar for African American women and 56 cents for Hispanic women. ” — White House Statement of Administration Policy on Paycheck Fairness Act, June 4. 2] According to the US Census Bureau, in 2010 the median earnings for women were $36,931 compared to $47,715 for men. [3] The majority of college degrees earned in the US are by women, and yet a study according to the American Association of University Women found that these educated graduated women are starting out with earning 5 percent less than their male peers. This was after several factors were taken into account, such as experience, training, and what school women earned their degrees from.

Their study summarizes that, “In this analysis the portion of the pay gap that remains unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is 5 percent one year after graduation and 12 percent ten years after graduation. ” – Behind the Pay Gap, American Association of University Women, Dey, Judy Goldberg and Hill, Catherine, pg. 3 [4] Regardless of how you look at the numbers, women don’t make as much money as men do. A majority of people considering this issue would agree that it’s unfair treatment and that it isn’t right.